A method and apparatus that allows computer programs to define ideas and concepts symbolically is provided. The method and apparatus include a grammar that may be used to represent any concept. Sentences are parsed, using this grammar, into their component parts. As part of the parsing process, each word is compared to the contents of a dictionary database. The dictionary database and a set of tense-mood tables are used to identify individual words as concepts, entities, actions or qualifiers. The parsing process creates a data structure (200) for each sentence. The data structure organizes the sentence into its component parts, such as an ID field (202) and POC fields (204). The data structures for different sentences can be compared to determine matching or similarity. The data structures can also be processed to accomplish more advanced ends, such as reasoning systems or expert systems.
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